FLEMING ISLAND – Cody Vincent and Josh Kenning used to spend the afternoons of their childhoods surfing at the beach or wakeboarding in Clay County. They’ve been friends since high school, which now seems like a distant memory once filled with wooden docks and the swings of Black Creek.

Now the two men are entering the product market as friends and business partners with their invention “The Double Doggie,” a dog leash that allows users to walk two dogs at the same time without tangling up the leash.

The product is currently in the process of being funded online on Kickstarter, a website platform for inventors and content creators seeking funding for their innovative products.

“I was pretty naive to the whole Kickstarter funding process,” said Vincent, who was born and raised in Orange Park. “I thought that if I shared it on my social media with friends, and all my friends shared it with their friends then the campaign would take off and we would be funded. Here we are two weeks into it and we’ve gotten good traction we’re almost 40 percent funded to our goal, but we’ve got a long way to go.”

The Double Doggie is currently in the last three weeks of its funding time with a cutoff date for the product to be funded by April 8. Vincent and Kenning believe the product is a “slam dunk” based on the feedback and excitement that they’ve received from product demos – and just from questions Vincent has received walking his two dachshunds.

“The whole ideas was to avoid letting people get their leashes tangled,” Kenning said. “So the significance of the 360-degree swivel means that the handle will continue to swivel so they can’t get tangled. We also designed it so that each leash will have five feet of leeway. They can wander five feet in any direction. The 360-degree makes that tangle avoid happening.”

Vincent and Kenning are looking to stock their product at local stores such as Petco, Petland and Petsmart, but they’re also looking at stocking it in local vet clinics. If they reach their funding goal, the two of them are going to purchase their first 5,000 units and finish their online storefront to give them the option to sell the product via their website.

“Black Creek has said they’re going to test run it,” said Vincent, who has already spent $30,000 in personal funds designing and creating the product. “Earth pets has shown interest, and we’ve talked to St. Francis pet hospital. Honestly the feedback we’ve gotten has been really good. I don’t think we’re jaded by our product. I think it’s a slam dunk. I think we’ve done enough and gotten out there and tested it.”

Vincent and Kenning have been accepted as creators at Jacksonville’s One Spark crowdfunding festival on April 6. One Spark offers creators a platform to get feedback on their ideas and help them find the funding they need to start down the road to fully realize their creation.

“Not only are we raising money from our Kickstarter campaign,” Vincent said. “We’re also meeting with investors to try and raise additional funds to really try and get this product out as soon as possible, and as far reaching as possible.”

Vincent and Kenning suggest that anyone looking for more information on the Double Doggie to go to their website at www.doubledoggie.com, or to visit their Kickstarter page by going to www.kickstarter.com and searching for the Double Doggie.

“One-hundred percent we think we’re going to meet our Kickstarter goal,” Vincent said. “We’re doing as much social media exposure as we can. We just need to get the word out, and we need to go to dog parks and dog events. I think we’re onto something.”